Designating portions of Hong Kong's country parks for residential development as a solution to the SAR's chronic housing problem is hardly a novel idea.
But those who share provisional legislator Dr Raymond Ho Chung-tai's enthusiasm in speedily scrapping part of our green belt are certainly in the minority.
Dr Ho expected the opposition from green groups but suggested pragmatism and Hong Kong people's overall well-being should also be considered. In his view, the Government needs to move quickly to find as much land as possible. Country parks are a ready option.
No one will dispute that Hong Kong needs to identify sufficient sites to meet housing targets. First we must ask whether we are yet so desperate to sacrifice part of our country parks, no matter how small the sites involved.
According to government statistics, we have not reached the stage that would justify invading our green zone.
At the end of March last year, Hong Kong had 17,500 hectares developed land, of which 4,300 hectares was residential land. But there was also an equal amount of vacant development land.
What does vacant development land mean? Are they sites that can be turned into either public or private housing immediately? Or are they sites suitable for other uses but have yet to be worked on? When we talk about shortage of land, it is obvious that we can explore how these vacant development sites can help before we turn our eyes to the green belt.